Inns of Court

Institutions in London responsible for legal education: Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. The benches, their governing bodies, had the exclusive right to admit or not persons to practice: they are formally called to the *bar. English law was studied, not Roman. By the mid-13c, common law had increased by practice and become intricate, requiring lay professionals. The clerks who worked in the *chancellor's offices seem to have taken students and trained them.